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Microsoft has pulled the beta tag on their security offering, officially releasing it for public use today. While no official release time was given when Microsoft announced the news on Monday, the software should be available from the Security Essentials Website as you read this.
Microsoft makes Security Essentials official.(IMG:J.Anderson)
“Consumers have told us that they want the protection of real-time security software but we know that too many are either unwilling or unable to pay for it, and so end up unprotected,” said Amy Barzdukas, general manager for consumer security at Microsoft.
“With Microsoft Security Essentials, consumers can get high-quality protection that is easy to get and easy to use — and it won’t get in their way.”
Microsoft has been in the security arena before with Windows Live OneCare, which failed to match the security offered by the competition.
Announced last November, Microsoft said that Security Essentials, called Morro at the time, would, “...be architected for a smaller footprint that will use fewer computing resources, making it ideal for low-bandwidth scenarios or less powerful PCs.”
When The Tech Herald reviewed the beta, we were pleasantly surprised at how well it performed during testing. While the only real issue was slow scanning, depending on the level of scan selected, for a free layer of security, Microsoft’s offering is great. Just remember that it should only be used as a layer of security.
With the official release today, Security Essentials is available in eight languages, and 19 countries, and is available for Windows XP SP2 or SP3, Windows Vista and Windows 7, including Windows XP mode on both x32 and x64 PCs.
You can download it here.
The Tech Herald: Review: Microsoft Security Essentials
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